I'll start off by saying, I've liked John Lithgow as an actor in general, but I always hated his acting in 3rd Rock. I've never watch a full episode of that show because the overacting turns me off within a few scenes. I did like his portrayal as Barney's father on How I Met Your Mother, so I watched the first two episodes of this to see how it would be, but with the above "prejudice". So with that said....
Trial & Error, two episodes in, is in all respects, completely unoriginal and derivative. Every aspect I can think of to consider it by, it seems like nothing but poor a poor ripoff of at least two or three other sitcom tropes.
The first, most obvious rehash is the faux-cumentary format, proposing that what you are watching filming of a documentary, filled with fourth-wall breakage as characters directly address the camera as if talking to a reporter or interviewer, with all the used up flubs, misstatements, suddenly being interrupted by another character walking in with embarrassing or incriminating revelations, supposedly unaware of the camera crew standing five feet away. This now-barren ground has already been worn bare, cultivated masterfully by shows like The Office (British and American) and Arrested Development. But there's really no new life to be drawn out here - or if there might be, this show makes no effort to find it. It's all the same faux-cumentary gags that have been played out in many other good shows - and many more bad ones. There's nothing fresh to be found here. Or if there is, there's no talent or attempt to find it.
Another thing that stood out to me was that this feels like a cheep ripoff of Arrested Development, especially in the lead character of Larry Henderson. He just feels like a weak, limp interpretation of Jeffery Tambor's portrayal of George Bluth Sr. While the characters themselves have some differences - the conniving and obviously guilty Bluth vs. the completely bumbling idiot Henderson - it's still the same basic story arc, arrested in the outset, apparently guilty while claiming innocence, sudden revelations about the character's actions or traits. It all just felt like second hand clothes - once fresh and crisp, now just worn and limp.
Josh Segal, played by Nocholas D'Agosto, sits uncomfortably in the Michael Bluth slot, the one "normal", sane character surrounded by absurdity - just more the fish-out-of-water in that he's an outsider to the small southern town where the story is set. Other characters are just absurd caricatures, much as were the surrounding characters in Arrested Development - but still, they all feel uninspired compared to other, better shows.
And, off of that, there's all the southern stereotypes embodied in those characters. And I don't say that out of any offense at the stereotyping itself, there's just nothing new. It's all very stale. Another review mentioned My Cousin Vinny, which I hadn't thought of when watching it, but that is a story that does an infinitely better job of using the the character and idiosyncrasies of southern culture to further the story. Trial & Error just throws in jokes that have been done a thousand times, lazily presuming they're funny when they're just boring.
As for John Lithgow, his portrayal of Larry Henderson, the completely inept, situationally incompetent poetry professor accused of murdering his wife, isn't quite as over-the-top, over done, and buffoonish (from my perspective) as 3rd Rock, but it still has that same feel - just reigned in a little. So if you like Dick Solomon, you should enjoy his performance here. And I would probably give him more time to develop the character - if the rest of the show wasn't so uninspired.
The only other character I enjoyed a bit was the receptionist Anne Flatch, portrayed by the wonderful Sherri Shepherd. She pulls back a little on her exuberance in her performance here - but in a good way. It makes it feel a little fresh. One of the best gags introduces in her character was the various and random disorders she suffers from. She pulls off the various gags well, but... here, with their one fresh idea, the writers even managed to screw it up - they introduced four or five of these disorders over the course of two episode to the point that it took an adorable character with a quirk or two to a total basket case. Shepherd did her part portraying these, the writers kind of blew their load by throwing so many into what should be a brief glimpse into this character, that they just turned her into a nut job. As far as character development it's just lazy.
Which, I guess, leads to a summary: the writers/creators took a good group of actors, a possibly decent premise, but in the end everything else felt lazy, uninspired, and generally ripped off of other, much more creative predecessors. Maybe they will find a way to make this more fresh, but I don't know that I'll stick around to find out.
Trial & Error, two episodes in, is in all respects, completely unoriginal and derivative. Every aspect I can think of to consider it by, it seems like nothing but poor a poor ripoff of at least two or three other sitcom tropes.
The first, most obvious rehash is the faux-cumentary format, proposing that what you are watching filming of a documentary, filled with fourth-wall breakage as characters directly address the camera as if talking to a reporter or interviewer, with all the used up flubs, misstatements, suddenly being interrupted by another character walking in with embarrassing or incriminating revelations, supposedly unaware of the camera crew standing five feet away. This now-barren ground has already been worn bare, cultivated masterfully by shows like The Office (British and American) and Arrested Development. But there's really no new life to be drawn out here - or if there might be, this show makes no effort to find it. It's all the same faux-cumentary gags that have been played out in many other good shows - and many more bad ones. There's nothing fresh to be found here. Or if there is, there's no talent or attempt to find it.
Another thing that stood out to me was that this feels like a cheep ripoff of Arrested Development, especially in the lead character of Larry Henderson. He just feels like a weak, limp interpretation of Jeffery Tambor's portrayal of George Bluth Sr. While the characters themselves have some differences - the conniving and obviously guilty Bluth vs. the completely bumbling idiot Henderson - it's still the same basic story arc, arrested in the outset, apparently guilty while claiming innocence, sudden revelations about the character's actions or traits. It all just felt like second hand clothes - once fresh and crisp, now just worn and limp.
Josh Segal, played by Nocholas D'Agosto, sits uncomfortably in the Michael Bluth slot, the one "normal", sane character surrounded by absurdity - just more the fish-out-of-water in that he's an outsider to the small southern town where the story is set. Other characters are just absurd caricatures, much as were the surrounding characters in Arrested Development - but still, they all feel uninspired compared to other, better shows.
And, off of that, there's all the southern stereotypes embodied in those characters. And I don't say that out of any offense at the stereotyping itself, there's just nothing new. It's all very stale. Another review mentioned My Cousin Vinny, which I hadn't thought of when watching it, but that is a story that does an infinitely better job of using the the character and idiosyncrasies of southern culture to further the story. Trial & Error just throws in jokes that have been done a thousand times, lazily presuming they're funny when they're just boring.
As for John Lithgow, his portrayal of Larry Henderson, the completely inept, situationally incompetent poetry professor accused of murdering his wife, isn't quite as over-the-top, over done, and buffoonish (from my perspective) as 3rd Rock, but it still has that same feel - just reigned in a little. So if you like Dick Solomon, you should enjoy his performance here. And I would probably give him more time to develop the character - if the rest of the show wasn't so uninspired.
The only other character I enjoyed a bit was the receptionist Anne Flatch, portrayed by the wonderful Sherri Shepherd. She pulls back a little on her exuberance in her performance here - but in a good way. It makes it feel a little fresh. One of the best gags introduces in her character was the various and random disorders she suffers from. She pulls off the various gags well, but... here, with their one fresh idea, the writers even managed to screw it up - they introduced four or five of these disorders over the course of two episode to the point that it took an adorable character with a quirk or two to a total basket case. Shepherd did her part portraying these, the writers kind of blew their load by throwing so many into what should be a brief glimpse into this character, that they just turned her into a nut job. As far as character development it's just lazy.
Which, I guess, leads to a summary: the writers/creators took a good group of actors, a possibly decent premise, but in the end everything else felt lazy, uninspired, and generally ripped off of other, much more creative predecessors. Maybe they will find a way to make this more fresh, but I don't know that I'll stick around to find out.